Friday, March 30, 2012

Rachel Maddow appeared on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" on Thursday night to discuss her new book about war, "Drift: The Unmooring Of The American Military."

Maddow's book, which has been a labor of love for the MSNBC host for a number of years, investigates how U.S. national security policy has changed since the Vietnam War, resulting in a severe disconnect between the military, government, and American public. "We didn't feel like we were a country at war," Maddow said to Stewart. "We felt like we're a country that sends the military off to war."

Stewart wondered how national security policy became more centralized under the executive branch of government. "Is it impossible to reign that in on some level when you're talking about waging war?" he asked.

"I think we can't ever expect presidents to give back power they already have...Congress actually has to take it. And after Vietnam, Congress actually got up on its hind legs and asserted its constitutional prerogative to do it," Maddow said. "But [Congress has] fallen back onto all fours since, and they ought to be more assertive again." See the video

GM's CEO, Dan Akerson, said his company is running its business under the assumption that climate change is real.

After getting called out by an environmental group, General Motors has pulled support from the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit well-known for attacking the science behind global warming and climate change.

The automaker told the Heartland Institute last week that it won't be making further donations, spokesman Greg Martin said. At a speech earlier this month, GM CEO Dan Akerson said his company is running its business under the assumption that climate change is real.Internal documents leaked in February showed that the General Motors Foundation -- which the automaker runs separately from its business -- donated to the institute $15,000 in 2010 and again in 2011, with another $15,00 expected to be gifted this year.

Heartland, which identifies itself as a free-market think tank, has questioned the ideas on global warming through its newsletters, web site and associated scientists. Last year, the tagline for its annual conference on the subject was "Global Warming: Was It Ever Really a Crisis?"

Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute, said GM had been a Heartland supporter for 20 years. "We regret the loss of their support, particularly since it was prompted by false claims contained in a fake memo circulated by disgraced climate scientist Peter Gleick," he said in a statement. "We once again respectfully ask liberal advocacy groups such as Huffington Post, the Center for American Progress, 350.org and Greenpeace to stop attacking scientists who question the theory of man-made global warming and corporations and foundations that are willing to fund open debate on this important public policy issue."

The bulk of Heartland's funding comes from one anonymous donor, who has given the group $11 million since 2007.

Nonprofit groups are not legally obligated to reveal their donors. Previously Heartland was transparent about its funding, even posting a list of contributors on its website, but removed it in 2004.